This year he carried on in much the same vein when becoming only the second athlete in history to complete the long distance 'double double' - adding the World 5,000 and 10,000-metre titles to his London Olympic gold medals.

With five global gongs now to his name, the great and the good of British track and field pretty much unanimously proclaim Farah as the nation's best ever.

Which begs the question of where the 30-year-old will find the motivation to keep pushing back the boundaries of achievement as he prepares to step up to marathon distance in 2014.

The answer lies with the sport's number one star, who famously stood on the London Olympic podium with Farah performing the Briton's trademark Mobot pose.

"When people say to me 'are you getting sick of winning?' I say to them 'Is Bolt?'," explained Farah.

"He's won more medals and set more records yet he doesn't seem to be (sick of it). That gives us all something to aim for.

"I am inspired by him. To be able to carry on and to do what he's doing is just unbelievable. You look up to someone like him."

Farah concedes that staying at the top is even harder than getting there in the first place.

"At times you want to relax but you can't because you've got to think about your opposition," he said. "Drop off at all and they're there, ready to get you."